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2003 - HERE AND NOW - Rod Laver Arena Melbourne
Monday - Nov 10th, 2003 |
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| Kim Wilde in leather heaven | Susan Sulley and Phil Oakey "Together In Electric Dreams" |
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I attended two of the Here And Now concerts being Melbourne and Sydney but I unfortunately arrived to the Melbourne concert late and half way through Belinda Carlisle’s performance. I did see all the acts from the very start in Sydney though so that was a great relief to make up for Melbourne. As far as Melbourne was concerned the room was full of electricity and had a unique vibe from the word go! My friend Joshua and I walked in and got a great reception indeed as we were both dressed in full 80’s attire, make up etc. so as soon as we walked in we were instantly shown on the video screen when arriving which was amusing. Belinda was performing 'Leave The Light On' and the audience simply adored her. She performed well and her fans responded greatly indeed. She then performed the classic Go Go’s hit 'Our Lips Are Sealed' which I enjoyed greatly as did the whole audience. Obviously the final song from Belinda was the one that the majority of the audience were waiting for being her huge hit 'Heaven Is A Place On Earth'. The audience were hysterical and sang every single word louder than anyone can imagine.
Belinda’s set was over and then quickly rushed on stage was Paul Young. He started off his set with 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' and as soon as he started singing I thought something is not right and as he progressed, I think the audience started to realise something was not right as well as he was struggling greatly with his voice. He then went on to perform 'Come Back And Stay' which is truly one of my favourites from Paul Young. He then performed his classic 'Love Of The Common People' which went down well and we even started doing the hand movements from the video! Next up was the absolutely fantastic 'I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down' which was full of energy and funk and he danced extremely well to this indeed. To end the set he performed the lovely ballad 'Every Time You Go Away'. Overall Paul Young was entertaining and has great presence but his voice has seriously suffered over the years and it looked rather painful for him whilst performing. Next up was the big start for me with the Queen of New Wave, Kim Wilde gracing the stage. You could feel the whole room just waiting and anticipating Kim’s entrance to the stage! Luckily I was in the first row so I was extremely excited! She kicked off her set with the brilliant 'Chequered Love' from her debut album from 1981 and I knew instantly that Kim Wilde was going to be the one to steal the show. We all were dancing and screaming and I was holding up the 'Select' album cover waving it around like a crazed fan! She then performed my favourite ever Kim Wilde song 'View From A Bridge' from the 1982 'Select' album which was truly amazing. The great darkness and intense keyboards and bass and guitar shone through this song and her brother Ricky was fantastic with his guitar indeed! She sounded superb as usual and this song went down very well indeed. Next up, was the absolute classic 'Cambodia' also from 'Select' with it’s amazing haunting synthesized intro which she sang beautifully and of course was also a hit with the crowd. Next up was the huge cover version of the 70’s disco hit 'If I Can’t Have You' which was a great winner with the audience and she thanked the crowd for making it a huge hit in Australia. Next was the pop classic 'You Came' which you can tell she loves to perform and thanked Ricky for writing it with her. The crowd also loved this and next was the other classic cover version of The Supremes 60’s smash 'You Keep Me Hanging On' which tore the roof down! The final number was the classic 'Kids In America' which she announced that she wasn’t going to perform 'Kids In America' (but of course she was!) The crowd were sad, but then she announced that she was going to perform 'Kids In Australia' instead! And of course the crowd went mad! She obviously also performed this one extremely well and it went off indeed. Next up was the huge moment for me with The Human League just about to grace the stage with their classic and unique sound. There was a 20 minute break in between Kim Wilde and The Human League as The Human League had there own set up stage and obviously their own band. The stage was white and very futuristic just as I hoped and full of synthesizers and electric drums. They introduced their set with 'Hard Times' which is the B-Side to 'Love Action' with just the musicians on stage. I was very pleased that 'Hard Times' was the opening number and that it even appeared on the set list as I wasn’t expecting it at all. It’s just sounded so great as it’s certainly one of their best B-Sides. 'Love Action' then started up and Phil Oakey walked on the stage and us hardcore Human League fans went wild in the front row! He sounded fantastic like always and then the girls Susan on the left and Joanne on the right came out on stage and were of course as camp and brilliant as always. The crowd were rather responsive but I wasn’t paying much attention to anyone but The League! Next up was another classic taken from Dare, 'The Sound Of The Crowd' which was a thrilling moment for me! It sounded as fresh as it did back in 1981 and was full of mood and New Romantic grace. Next up Phil Oakey introduced 'Human' and mentioned Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis writing the song. This song was performed beautifully and the girls sang great on it indeed and it went down well. Next up Phil Oakey introduced another song off my favourite album Dare 'Open Your Heart'. He sang fantastic on this track and it was brilliant. During 'Open Your Heart' the girls walked off stage for a costume change and returned for the next number 'The Lebanon' was the next number which was truly one of the big highlights for me as it’s always been one of THE Human League songs that very much effects me through it’s great lyrics and big sound. The guitars and Phil and the girls just sounded fantastic all around and the crowd responded well. Next up were the four big hits '(Keep Feeling) Fascination', 'Mirror Man', 'Together In Electric Dreams' and 'Don’t You Want Me'. The crowd danced through '(Keep Feeling) Fascination' and went off to 'Mirror Man' and obviously went totally crazy at 'Together In Electric Dreams' and 'Don’t You Want Me' was of course the biggest hit of the night. The Human League were magical, unique, original and sounded superb and they most certainly demonstrated that they have not lost it! I obviously was hungry for lots more seeing I am a HUGE fan but was happy and thrilled that I was going to see them again in Sydney. I was somewhat disappointed that they did not perform 'Heart Like A Wheel' as they did in Perth but I don’t think it went down well in Perth. Oh well!!! Overall, the Melbourne crowd were absolutely fantastic, energetic, loud and all very happy to be there so it was a thrill! 2003 - HERE AND NOW - Sydney Entertainment Centre - Sydney Well this day started off very well as I went over to Kim Wilde’s hotel to interview her for my Countdown Memories website and it all went wonderfully well and she was ever so nice and more than willing to share her stories with me. Later on it was time for part two of Here And Now for me and it was great to be early and experience the whole Here And Now show in Sydney. First up on stage was 1927. Eric Weideman was the only original member of 1927 left in the band. 1927 were extremely good and Eric’s voice was extremely strong and he performed very well. They began their set with 'That’s When I Think Of You' and they received a great welcoming from the audience instantly. Next up was 'Compulsory Hero' which Eric dedicated to Slim Dusty. This song also went down extremely well. Finally was their huge hit 'If I Could' which everybody went hysterical at and this was also performed extremely well. Overall 1927 were brilliant but it was extremely quick so instantly Mondo Rock hit the stage. They began their set with an intro of 'No Time' but then went into 'Summer Of 81' which was fantastic and brought back memories of '1982 In The Sun' the compilation album! Next up was the tremendous 'Cool World' which went down fantastically and of course the next big reaction was for the beautiful 'State Of The Heart' which was performed very well. Next up was 'Chemistry' which was also fantastic and was a crowd pleaser, and finally was the big one 'Come Said The Boy' which was great and performed extremely well. Mondo Rock definitely give 100% on stage and were superb in every way and proved to be a great live band after all these years of being apart. It’s funny while watching them each song reminded me of watching Countdown as they appeared on the show so often in the 80’s! Next up was the ever so tremendous Go West. I was very excited as I’ve always liked the band and I missed them in Melbourne and heard so many good things about their performance. They opened their set with 'Don’t Look Down' which was such a strong performance and everyone went mad and basically all were standing up. Next was the utterly brilliant 'Call Me' which has always been one of my favourite Go West moments and they performed that brilliantly as well and Peter Cox really does have a magical voice indeed. Next up was the classic 'We Close Our Eyes'. Everyone got up off their seats for this one and I enjoyed it immensely as I adore this song! Next up was 'King Of Wishful Thinking' which was just as I predicted a huge hit with the audience. Everyone was singing and dancing so that was great. I was extremely energised by Go West and wanted more but that was it. Next up was Belinda Carlisle and of course she just got a huge reception! The audience just loved her and screamed as soon as she hit the stage. She began her set with 'Live Your Life Be Free' which went down fabulously then next up was one that I enjoyed 'Mad About You' which she performed well then next she introduced 'Circle In The Sand' saying that when she heard it in the supermarket the first time she knew she made it! So that was amusing and that performance was great! Next was 'Summer Rain' which the crowd responded to very well. Then next was 'Leave A Light On' which was obviously a hit. 'Our Lips Are Sealed' was next from The Go Go’s and she introduced it as that band she was in and of course that performance was also a huge hit and finally was 'Heaven Is A Place On Earth' which brought the roof down. Paul Young was next and didn’t go down as well as in Melbourne. A lot of people were sitting down but there were of course those who weren’t. He performed the same set list as in Melbourne but I found that 'Every Time You Go Away' in particular went down amazingly and of course 'Love Of The Common People' got people up off their seats. Next up was Kim Wilde and again you could feel the vibe for Kim whilst Paul Young was finishing up. Kim certainly bought the house down and performed extremely well once again! Full of energy and vibrance, she shined like a star. The set list was the same as in Melbourne except during 'Kids In America' all the Here And Now artists got up on stage with her singing and dancing which the crowd absolutely loved and it was quite magical indeed. The vibe during 'Kids In America' and the whole Kim set was just phenomenal just like in Melbourne. Next up was of course were The Human League who were absolutely amazing again, of course! Once again Kim Wilde was the highlight with the audience but there was certainly some big Human League fans around the front singing the lyrics to all the songs and I was screaming my head off for them as you do. The great thing about the Sydney show was that they added 'Tell Me When' from their 1995 album 'Octopus' which I was positively thrilled about!!! And it went down quite well to which was great to see. Of course the crowds general biggest reaction was during the ever so popular ”Don’t You Want Me” and “Together In Electric Dreams” and “Mirror Man” got a great reception as did '(Keep Feeling) Fascination'. The League performed brilliantly and looked very happy on stage. It was the last show in Australia and it was all fantastic but once again I was disappointed that The Human League didn’t perform 'Love Me Madly' from their current album 'Secrets' as whilst they were in Brisbane they added it in which was a surprise so I was hoping for the same as it was the last show ,but once again, oh well!!! Generally the Sydney show was fabulous but I found Melbourne to be a bit more vibrant on the whole. Below are the set lists from the Here And Now shows whilst in Australia from Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.
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